Sports
AFCON 2023 Qualifiers: Rwanda, champions Senegal in Group L
Rwanda’s
national team Amavubi have been pooled in Group L of the 2023 Africa Cup of
Nations qualifiers alongside defending champions Senegal, Mozambique and Benin.
Rwanda
was seeded in pot 4 during the draw held in Johannesburg, South Africa on
Tuesday evening by former Ivory Coast and Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou and
South African legend Lucas Radebe.
The
same pot included minnows Sao Tome & Principe, Tanzania, Central
African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Lesotho,
Botswana, Liberia and South Sudan.
The
top two teams from each of the 12 groups will qualify for the AFCON 2023 slated
in Ivory Coast from June 23 to July 23 next year.
The
qualifiers for the continent’s biggest showpiece will be the first test for new
national team head coach Carlos Ferrer who took over the hot seat after
football governing body (Ferwafa) decided to part ways with Vincent Mashami
last month.
No
team in this group, apart from Senegal, took part in the AFCON 2021 finals in
Cameroon earlier this year and Amavubi face an uphill task against African
champions Senegal, Mozambique and Benin if they are to end their 19-year wait
for qualification
Meanwhile,
AFCON 2021 runners-up Egypt were pitted in Group D against Guinea, Malawi
and Ethiopia While Cameroon, the host of the previous edition, were pooled in
Group C alongside Kenya, Namibia, Burundi.
The
Confederation of African Football (CAF) changed the dates of the tournament to
June and July rather than the usual January-February calendar to allow high
profile players to play for their respective nations in the tournament without
missing games for their European clubs and hence avoid the tournament from conflicting
with other major tournaments, as previously claimed before the Cameroon
showpiece.
The
draw in full:
Group
A: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe
Group
B: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Togo, Eswatini
Group
C: Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Burundi
Group
D: Egypt, Guinea, Malawi, Ethiopia
Group
E: Ghana, Madagascar, Angola, Central African Republic.
Group
F: Algeria, Uganda, Niger, Tanzania.
Group
G: Mali, Congo, The Gambia, South Sudan.
Group
H: Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, Comoros, Lesotho
Group
I: DR Congo, Gabon, Mauritania, Sudan
Group
J: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Botswana
Group
K: Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia
Group
L: Senegal, Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda.
Source:
www.newtimes.co.rw